LAND4LDN programme

Understanding the availability of land to deliver London’s  housing need is core to being able to plan for the future of the city. This is done through a Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA), a process that has historically been undertaken by boroughs and the GLA periodically, whereby a snapshot of London’s land availability for housing is taken and analysed at a fixed point in time. A SHLAA was last carried out by the GLA in 2017.

Since 2017 there have been significant changes in the availability of planning data, enabling planners to have a more dynamic understanding of how the city is changing in real time. The availability of live data combined with digital tools has paved the way for a new approach.

In autumn 2022, the GLA launched the LAND4LDN programme, a suite of innovative digital tools that deliver real-time data for all London boroughs to use in their SHLAA and other plan making and monitoring activities. The programme aims to revolutionise the SHLAA process, facilitating a data-driven approach to development capacity and forming an evidence base for developing the London Plan and local planning policies.

• Create a unified platform with real-time data for assessing and monitoring developable land, addressing London’s housing needs
• Provide a transparent system for London’s planning authorities to monitor housing land trajectory, analyse capacity, propose new development sites, and review data exclusively

This programme spans two years and will deliver an updated, rolling SHLAA for London.

Year 1: BUILD

• Develop the LAND4LDN platform including its interfaces with available data sources, which enables London boroughs to engage with existing data and to collect additional data
• Develop the Call for Sites service, which allows local authorities, developers, landowners and the public to put new development sites forward

Year 2: IMPLEMENTATION

• Launch the LAND4LDN platform and the Call for Sites service